Tackling misconduct in the workplace is not straightforward. It requires careful thought and consideration.
Your starting point is to try as best you can to ensure that misconduct does not occur in the first place. This means making sure that you hire the right people and then make sure that they know your rules and procedures.
Probationary periods are the ideal time to check that you have hired appropriately and to share your rules and procedures with your new hires. New employees need to be tested in their role, but they also need to be tested with regard to their conduct, attitude and behaviour.
Part of ensuring that a new hire is a good fit for your organisation is ensuring that they understand and appreciate your values and ethics. This includes basis things like honesty, ownership of mistakes, treating others with dignity and respect and delivering a good service. It can also include going the ‘extra mile’ for a customer, being helpful to colleagues, promoting your brand, sharing ideas and being receptive to change.
It is important that you communicate your expectations to the new hire during the first few weeks of their employment. You must ensure that they read your disciplinary procedure, and this needs to be documented. A new recruit checklist is a useful way of doing this, although an email trail is sufficient.
However, the disciplinary procedure is just one aspect of what you need to communicate. You need to communicate how you expect your new hire to respond to client requests or complaints, how to present your brand and how to interact with their colleagues and managers. This also needs to be documented and can be done during the probationary period review and during all subsequent reviews or appraisals.
You can’t really blame someone for letting you down if you have not communicated your expectations to them. If you can engage them fully in your business, its standards, rules and your expectations from early on in their employment journey, you are much less likely to end up having to take disciplinary action against them. For further guidance and support contact Kim on 07595 369485.
I am a qualified employment law solicitor with over 25 years' experience working for the most part with employers. All businesses are vulnerable to tribunal claims from employees. My firm…
